Please note! The Swedish National Agency for Higher Education was closed down on 31 December 2012. Instead two new agencies have been established: the Swedish Council for Higher Education and the Swedish Higher Education Authority. This website will continue to operate as the new agencies will have links to information it contains.

Report 2010:11 R

Disciplinary cases at higher education institution in 2009

This is a summary in English. The report is available only in Swedish.

Since 2001 the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education has been presenting statistics and reflections about the decisions made in disciplinary cases at the higher education institution by virtue of Chapter 10 in the Higher Education Ordinance (1993:100). In 2009, as in the preceding four years, this analysis also includes the three major independent institutions Chalmers University of Technology, the Stockholm School of Economics and Jönköping University Foundation. Where comparisons are made with previous years the starting date is 2005, i.e. the year in which these three institutions were first included in the statistics.

Analysis of the decisions made in disciplinary cases shows that 508 students were subject to disciplinary measures in 2009. This is a reduction of seven per cent compared to 2008. The figure corresponds, however, to only 0.17 per cent of the total number of FTE´s. If instead the total number of registered students is taken into account — which in fact is more appropriate — the proportion of disciplinary cases per number of students would only be 0.11 per cent. In 2008 the same figure was about 0.13 per cent.

Of the 508 students subject to disciplinary measures in 2009 379 were suspended and 129 reprimanded. The number of suspensions has declined by about nine per cent compared to 2008. In principle, the number of reprimands is the same as in 2008.The Swedish National Agency for Higher Education has divided the different types of cases into six categories:

Cribs and illicit aids.

Illicit collaboration.

Plagiarism and fraud.

Falsifying documents.

Disturbing teaching or other activities.

Sexual or ethnic harassment.

The most frequent reason for subjecting students to disciplinary measures was, as in the previous year, plagiarism. This was the subject of 303 cases, of which 244 led to suspension. In 2008 the corresponding figure was 302, of which 256 led to suspension. The number of students suspended or reprimanded was therefore in principle the same in 2009 as in 2008.

The greatest decline has been in the number of cases involving illicit collaboration, from 97 in 2008 to only 55 in 2009.

In 2006 about 60 per cent of all students were women. The proportion of women among those subject to disciplinary measures was only 36 per cent. The proportion of women subject to disciplinary measures was the same in 2009 as in 2007 and 2008, 43 per cent.